A Start
by GoldenCasseiopeia
Summary: For Sasusaku month! Sasuke thinks about how his wife affected his present life.


It was the middle of the day when a lone ANBU passed through the vilage gates. He strode in with his hands shoved into his pockets and paused only to nod at the guards before continuing his way.

Sasuke slowly went by the village to the hokage tower to report his return after a month-long mission. After a whole month of fighting and running and fast living, he just wanted to take things slow and calmly. Take his time and feel it tick away slowly and not like it was quikly slipping away from him.

When he reached the hokage tower, he didn't bother knocking ang went straight in. He was greeted by stacks of paper everywhere. On the floor, on the shelves and mostly on the desk in the middle of the room. The person he was looking for was probably burried under all of it.

A groan came from the blonde hokage and a long sigh. "Man! What I'd do to have some ramen right now!" he whined and threw his hands up.

"Dobe." came his comment.

"Ah teme! You should really respect me y'know I'm the hokage now," Naruto shouted before standing up and clasping his best friend on the back. "How was your mission?"

"Hn. Long." He snorted as he slid his mask off to the side of his head.

"So it was a success?" Naruto asked as he was sitting down again and trying to look past the mountain of paper blocking his way.

"Obviously." Sasuke answered. Sometimes, he thinks of how Naruto became hokage. The blonde really has a way of doing things. Sometimes it was just downright stupid but it somehow works.

"Hey! Shut up! I heard Sakura-chan found out the gender of the baby last week.," Naruto said which had Sasuke raising an eyebrow at the blonde hokage. "You should really name it Naruto Uchiha if it's a boy."

"Hn." he glared at Naruto then turn and left.

"OI TEME! COME BACK HERE! YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TALK! I'M HOKAGE 'TTEBAYO!" Naruto screamed but Sasuke shut the door at him.

The name Naruto Uchiha was never gonna happen.

Sasuke walked towards the compound and couldn't help but think that it didn't look haunted anymore. And it was all thanks to his wife.

Uchiha Sakura was the reason behind it all. She cleaned the whole place up and re-purpose it. She had Ino decorate the whole place with flowers and got a team to repaint and renovate the old stores and houses. She also somehow got their friends to sweep the whole place clean and after that was done and contented with their work, she rented the old stores out and now the Uchiha compund was bustling.

They were not Uchiha and Sasuke flat out refused to let other people use their land but she won't be Sakura if she listened to him and back down. So in the end, the Uchiha market was now filled with people. Even the old park he used to play in as a child, was now well kept and bustling with children.

"Konnichiwa Uchiha-sama!" an elderly woman who was selling tomatoes greeted. He nodded in acknowledgement and continued his way home.

Marrying Haruno Sakura was one of the best decisions ever did. Not only did she bring the life out of his home, but also the whole compound. And because of her, people were starting to welcome him back in the village. They stopped thinking of him as a dangerous former missing nin who planned to destroy the village but as Uchiha-sama who leads the ANBU team as its captain and who gives civilians jobs.

He knew that when he married her, it wasn't out of love. Well, not with him anyway. He respected her, cared for her, trusted her and admired her skills, but he didn't love her. It was hard for him to love anyone. It's not that he couldn't, he just didn't know how. After too much time of feeling only hatred and sorrow, he forgot how to love and other positive emotions.

She knew it too, of course. But it didn't stop her from agreeing to marry him when he practically shoved the ring into her hand, despite them not having a relationship before.

He walked towards the part of the compund that was uninhabited save from himself and his wife. He remembered glaring at her as he refused vehemently when she asked that the houses be also rented out. She understood and didn't push it any further.

That was one of the reasons why he chose her, out of all the girls in the village who want his attention, to marry. She understood him and doesn't act out of line. She's also the only girl -woman- he's comfortable to be around with.

He pushed open the door to his home and scanned any signs for his wife and found her chakra signature in one of the old rooms. He toed his shoes off then set it aside and quickly went to her location..

He followed Sakura's chakra and found her in his old bedroom, standing and observing the room that was now bare of furniture and had newspaper everywhere. The old green walls off his childhood bedroom was now baby blue with the uchiwa fan symbol painted perfectly on the wall.

Sasuke looked at his wife. He always knew that Sakura was pretty. With her silky carnation locks, bright green eyes that shined like emerald and her breath-taking smile that can warm up anyone's inside. Yes, even him, the infamous Ice Block. But he had never thought of her as the prettiest. Until now.

She looked absolutely beautiful standing in the middle of the room observing her work, her hair pulled up into a ponytail, wearing a too large for her black shirt that probably belonged to him and her cycling shorts, barefoot, a hand supporting her very preganant belly while the other one was poised on her back.

Nothing says 'UCHIHA MATRIARCH' more than the picture before him. He felt his lips tug into a proud smirk as heleaned on the door frame and folded his elbows under his chest.

It took Sakura a few seconds before she snapped out and saw her handsome husband leaning on the door frame.

"Oh Sasuke-kun! Okaeri!" she flashed him a smile that she only saved for him. One that's filled with warmth and love that can move mountains.

"Aa. Tadaima." He answered. She tried to reach up and kiss him but her swollen belly was getting in her way.

She pouted and caressed her belly. "Mou, he's getting really big ne? I'm having a hard time moving around now."

Sasuke froze and stared at her for a moment. "He?" he asked, shocked.

"Mhm... I checked last week and it's a boy!" she beamed at him. "Are you happy?" she looked at him expectantly.

He continued to stare at her, studying her face. From her cute button nose, her long pink lashes and her perfect cupid bow lips and thought that she looked perfect right now. Beautiful, lovely, pregnant and all his.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked with a bit of worry in her voice.

He pulled her into a tight hug without squishing her belly. "Sakura, thank you..." he burried his head on the crook of her neck and inhaled.

She smelled like tomatoes, cherries and fresh paint. The smell of home.

"You're welcome!" she said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Did you do all the work?" He asked as he let go of her and looked around his old room.

"No," she said following him inside. "I had Sai and Kaka-sensei help me move the furniture out and paint the walls and ceiling."

"Hn. Good, you shouldn't move around much," he turned towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist into a possessive grip. "Not with your condition."

"Sasuke-kun," she poked his chest and glared at him."I'm pregnant, not disabled."

"Aa." he smirked at her.

She only rolled her eyes at his answer. "Did you have lunch yet?" she asked as she walked towards the door.

"Hn." He grunted, which translates to 'no'. Good thing that after spending long periods of time with hims, she now somehow understands his monosyllabic answers.

"Come on," she gestured for him to get out of the room. "I'll make you something to eat. Go and get out of those clothes, you're dirty."

He followed her ot and went into their bedroom to take a shower. He slipped all his equipment off and put it aside before stepping into the shower while taking his other clothes off.

The feeling of a water on his back brought immediate relief to his sore muscles. He grabbed the soap to wash out a month's worth of grime and dirt from his body. He's going to kill Naruto if he sends him on another mission right after this one.

He stepped out of the shower after his nose picked up a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. He toweled his hair dry and took out some normal clothes that feel like clouds on his skin after wearing nothing but rough ANBU gear for a month.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw a framed photos on top of the shelf. It was a picture of Team 7 when they were still genin and beside it was his and sakura's wedding picture.

She looked so radiant then. All smiles with her eyes twingkling, a hand wrapped the around her bouquet of lilies and carnations and the other around his arm, while he was stoically looking at the camera in his black toxedo, which reminded him of his late father.

They were married in spring at the Uchiha compound's park. It was decorated with white streamers to accent the cherry blossoms that were in bloom, with the Uchiha clan symbol hung on the trees in banners. White chairs were arranged at the sides of the red carpet that was rolled towards the end of the aisle where Sasuke and his bestman were standing.

Sasuke could remember Naruto fidgeting all through out the ceremony who was more nervous than the groom himself. He only stayed still when Tsunade, who was still the hokage at that time, pummeled him down as the ceremony started and the bridal train began to enter.

Sasuke didn't pay attention to the bridal train who were all wearing pink dresses with bouquets of lilies on their hands. But he took a double take when Sakura entered the venue on her mother and father's arms. She was wearing a long white long-sleeved lace gown that was cut low on the back, her hair was put up into an elegant twist on top of her head with a silver tiara holding her veil up.

She was smiling widely at the guests while gracefully walking towards him. Then her eyes stopped and focused on him. She gave him a bright, warm smile that for the first time, made his insides squirm. And right there, the only people in the world was him and his bride-to-be.

When they arrived at the end of the aisle, Sakura's father took her hand and handed it to him squeezing their hands and telling him to take care of his little girl, her mother only looked at him and nodded. Sakura grabbed his hand and smiled at him with love and compassion that he felt th world stop and his heart beat a thousand miles per hour. And he knew then that he had a chance. A chance at learning to love again. It was nothing big, but it was a start.

Sasuke smiled inwarldy at the thought. Sakura took that start and turned it into something else. She unknowingly taught him to feel again with her caring, loving and compasssionate nature.

He put the towel down and went to the kitchen where she while setting the table for him to eat. He walked towards her and put his arms securely around her waist and kissed her forehead.

He didn't need to tell her, but he knew that she knew that he loved her.

* * *

RnRs are aprreciated!

**XOXO**


End file.
